Saw this Weird Gas Pump...
 

So today I was with my gf and I went to the gas station (Cumberland Farms) and they had this weird nozzle. I guess the rubber keeps fumes from escaping, because you have to push it all the way against the gas filler.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...DSC00215-1.jpg

i've actually seen those around before. not often though

Dude here in oregon there like everywhere

lol, yep, they're all over here in Wisconsin too. Do be honest, I don't remember what the old ones looked like.

WOW, YOU guys must gbe yountg, theyhr the original nozzles..,(srry, i'm kinda sorta drunk)

lol, alright
well in FL we get everything after you guys up north.

and those are definitely new to that gas station, they just remodeled and those weren't there before
I have never seen this before in the 18 years of my life

drunk posts ftw!


And we have the "new" style (I guess) pumps here in PA... without the rubber boots. The ones with the rubber would probably confuse the h**l out of me at first :D

Its called a vapor recovery nozzle. Like you said it is designed to help keep fumes from venting to the atmosphere during fill-ups. I'm not sure how much it helps tho. It's more of a pain than anything else really.

Well, when the engineers thought of it, I'm sure it was good in theory...

It's not just theory, it's proven to work, when engineers (such as myself, lol) design something, they use function over form. It's a great way to keep fumes within the vehicles fuel tank. Back in the day, car companies used a slightly different design for gas tank nozzles, and they were prone to leak vapors and fumes into the areas atmosphere, which doesn't float well with open ignition sources.

p.s. holy crap, i don't remember posting that..

The reason is not fire danger, but pollution. Unburned gasoline vapors are a key component of smog. Thus in certain smog-prone areas, these nozzles are required.

There is also the e-mail chain letter conspiracy theory that this nozzle lets the gas station suck the vapors from your tank, condense them, and sell the same gas over and over again. That doesn't make sense for several reasons.